How to Bend Notes on the Harmonica

Everyone it seems wants to be able to bend notes on the harmonica.  But, it is one of the hardest things for beginners to be able to do.  Usually, it is because the beginning harmonica player is not yet really ready to begin bending notes.

Why?  More often than not, it's because you have to have really good, clear consistent single notes first. 

You see, bending notes on a harmonica involves changing how fast the harmonica  reed vibrates.  This requires a change in the air pressure inside your mouth -  very precise changes in air pressure inside your mouth are necessary. 

And, very precise changes in air pressure inside your mouth are basically impossible if you are inadvertently playing more than one note. That is, if you're single note playing is sloppy and inconsistent, the bends are just not going to happen.  Or, if they do, if you are able to bend at all, the bends won't sound very good.

So, what to do?  First, figure out how consistent your single note playing really is. 

You can do this by recording yourself and listening back to it.  Try something very simple like the “do re mi“ scale up and down.  Do you hear each note clearly or are you hearing more than one hole at a time?  If you don't hear each note very clearly and consistently going up and down the scale, then it's time to “wood shed” a little bit more and get your single notes together, get them all consistent, get them all happening in one hole at a time so that you then can start to work on bending.

Now, assuming your single note playing is ready for this, let's go to the bend technique:

What you want to do is change the airstream coming into (or going out of) your mouth.  It is helpful to think of it as bending the airstream down.

Do this exercise (without your harmonica): on an IN-breath, say "WEEEE - OOOOOO"

Exhale and say "WEEEE - OOOOOO" again

Do you notice a change in the airstream between "WEEEE" and "OOOOOO"?

If you haven't noticed, then do it again and really concentrate on the air stream.

Now here's a MAJOR tip: on the "OOOOOOO" vowel, don't have your tongue go down just a little bit

- instead make your tongue drop suddenly to the bottom of your mouth, like it is on an express elevator on a hurry to get to the bottom of a building

- doing that, do you feel a sudden change in the pitch of the vowel and of where the airstream hits your tongue? 

You should - that's what is going to make the bend for you.

Here's a recording of how to bend that may help you

- you'll need a key of C 10 hole diatonic harmonica, and there's also a key of A 10 hole diatonic harmonica on the recording